Touché
by WifeOfVoldemort
Summary: Muggle modern day AU where Lily hits James with her car. Shameless flirting follows.


"Move it, mate."

James Potter jumped and sprung out of the way as a rather burly looking man strode towards him. He muttered an apology but scowled as the man roughly pushed him aside. Where Londoners always this rude? Ever since he moved to the city things just kept going badly. James was the sort of person who attracted trouble like a magnet. Where ever he went there was always a certainty that he would trip over someone's feet, or get into an arm wrestle, or accidentally offend an extremely sensitive person. It's not that he did these things on purpose; he was just a tall, clumsy twenty year old who was prone to distraction. It was the, what, fifth time today he had 'got in someone's way' and to be honest, James was getting rather fed up. Okay, maybe it was his fault this time; come to think of it he _was_ standing in the middle of a busy pavement. But that's only because he needed to take a picture of a street sign. Surely getting in someone's way is forgiven if it's done in the case of a funny pun? Apparently not in London.

Adjusting his headphones, he began to saunter down Regent Street. His music was loud, too loud, James didn't care. He was positive his music taste was brilliant; he was doing everyone a favour if they could hear it too. He was giving back to society, wasn't he? Noting the time, he sighed. He was late, well, when was he not? Lupin would kill him when he finally arrived but 'better late than never' was the motto he lived by. James was never one for time keeping, or organisation for that matter. He just didn't see the point in planning beforehand if he was going to oversleep anyway.

Strumming his fingers in time to the beat of the song, he stepped out to cross the road, not quite concentrating on what he was doing.

* * *

"Fuck. I feel like I've been hit by a car."

"You have been hit by a car! Can you not remember? Have I given you amnesia? Oh God oh God oh God oh God." A panicky disembodied voice was addressing James.

He opened his eyes and squinted groggily at his surroundings. He was lying on the side of the road he had just attempted to cross, with something soft under his head.

"What just happened?" James tried to sit up but was gently pushed down again.

"Don't get up; you need to lie here until the ambulance comes." The voice told him.

"What happened?" James repeated. His back felt sore and the left side of his ribcage felt horribly bruised.

"You just ran out in front of me, oh my God I'm so sorry, I had to emergency stop but I just managed to bump into you and you just went flying and I didn't know what to do but it's alright because the ambulance should be here soon and you don't seem to have any serious injuries, I checked. It's lucky I did that first aid course last year because otherwise-"

"Do you know where my glasses are?" James interrupted, growing tired of the girls incessant babbling.

"Yes, I picked them up."

James jumped as the metal frames were timidly placed on his nose, and his hair was brushed out of his eyes. The world seemed to erupt into clarity, and James turned his head to face the girl. She was kneeling next to him on the pavement, her long red hair swaying across her face. She was biting her nails and her emerald green eyes darting across James' body, still checking for any signs of damage.

"How are you feeling? Does anything in particular hurt?" She asked, worry dominating her pale face. "The emergency services said I should just keep you talking."

"Well, I've been better." He flashed her one of his smiles. "James Potter, by the way."

"Lily Evans." The girl replied. "Does anything feel broken?"

"Everything seems intact apart from my dignity." James sighed, eyeing the crowd that was starting to surround them. Trust Londoners to flock to the scene when there was something to gossip about. He shifted slightly, uncomfortably, but Lily pinned him down.

"Don't move. Even if you don't think you've injured yourself there could still be internal bleeding or something like that. You're not a haemophiliac are you?" Lily bit her lip.

"I love it when chicks talk medical to me."

"You'll love it at the hospital then." Lily quipped. James noticed that her hands were shaking and her eyes were full of tears.

James began to say something but the wailing of the ambulance cut him off. Lily checked her watch.

"Six minutes and a half. Not too bad." She murmured.

"Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel kinda faint."

* * *

"We've got to stop meeting like this."

James cracked an eye open and winced at the bright light. He was in hospital, tightly packed into a crisp white bed. A figure was standing close to him with their arms crossed. James immediately recognised the mass of red hair.

"Not my fault, you're the one who rammed a car into me." James shrugged, his expression mischievous.

"I think you're partly to blame, did nobody ever tell you to look when crossing a road?" Lily sighed and shook her head.

"I could be a tourist for all you know."

"And tourists are excused for being idiotic?"

"Yeah, clueless foreigners and all that."

"Where's your camera, rucksack and map then?"

"Down my trousers."

Lily scoffed, and James grinned, running a hand through his unruly hair.

"How come you're here?" He asked, his tone softer.

"Couldn't exactly leave you alone, could I?"

"How'd you get here though? I thought only family and friends were allowed to visit in hospital."

"Ah, yes." Lily ducked her head, her cheeks colouring. "May have told a tiny white lie."

James raised his eyebrows. "What did you do?"

"Told the ambulance crew I was your girlfriend." Lily laughed despite herself. "I've only just met you and I'm already committing identity theft."

"You're not committing identity theft, I don't have a girlfriend. Besides, that's not quite how it works."

"Appreciate my struggles!"

"Not my fault you can't stay away from me." James grinned.

Lily raised an eyebrow and looked down, inspecting her nails.

"I don't even know why I'm here, I just left my car in Great Marlborough Street and the last time I did that I got a parking ticket. Oh God I hope they don't take any points off my licence. I really didn't mean to hit you, I refuse to take full responsibility-"

"Lily?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

"Watch it; I'm standing right next to your fluids."

"You wouldn't dare."

It was Lily's turn to look mischievous. "Never get on the wrong side of a red-head."

James crooked an eyebrow up. "Are you threatening me, Miss Evans?"

"Who says I'm a Miss? Could be married for all you know."

"Ah, but if you were, you would be unhappily married."

"Oh, really?" Lily's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"No ring." James pointed at her finger.

"Left it at home."

"Of course."

"Why am I still here?" Lily wondered out loud.

"Because of my irresistible charm and style?"

Lily snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Why then?" James locked his eyes with Lily's.

"I was thinking…"

"Don't do that, you might hurt yourself!"

Lily threw him a scathing look, but carried on. "I was thinking, I should probably do something for you, like compensation?"

"Oh?"

"Like, I dunno, take you out for dinner sometime? If you're free?" Lily ducked her head down, blushing furiously. "It's alright if you're busy, I mean, I'm very busy too. I wouldn't be disappointed or anything, of course not, just want to do you a little favour for almost killing you-"

"Yeah, alright."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'll go for dinner with you."

"Oh!"

James smirked. "You need to sort out your verbal diarrhoea."

"You need to sort out your hair."

"You need to learn how to drive."

"You need to learn how to cross roads.

"Touché, Evans touché."


End file.
